Richard Hills will retire from the saddle at Saturday’s Dubai World Cup
meeting at Meydan more than 32 years after riding his first winner.

His planning and timing have been typically professional, but he admits to having mixed emotions as the day approaches.

“I felt it was right to retire. I started thinking about it last July. You can’t beat age, and I’m getting older. Racing is a young man’s sport and I feel it’s time to move on to the next chapter,” he said.

Hills, 49, and his identical twin Michael have been fixtures on the British racing scene for three decades. Their talent and polish have been responsible for their longevity, as have the old fashioned values bred into them by their father, Barry, who retired as a trainer last August.

“I wanted to go out on World Cup night, not on a dreary day at Doncaster in November,” said Hills. Not that he has anything against Doncaster, having ridden his first winner there aboard Border Dawn, on Oct 26 1979, when a raw 16 year-old apprentice, but Dubai, with its star-studded night featuring the world’s richest race, seemed more appropriate.

The years have ticked by quickly, and almost every highlight along the way has been for Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum, the deputy ruler of Dubai, who first employed him as second jockey in 1995 and then gave him the top job on the retirement of Willie Carson two years later.

Sheikh Hamdan and Hills have formed one of the closest professional partnerships seen in racing’s modern era. It has been an extraordinary association, which has reaped rich rewards.

Sheikh Hamdan is the ultimate in hands-on ownership, according to his departing jockey. “He is a successful breeder and knows his families so well. His whole operation revolves around developing the bloodlines he has nurtured. Nine times out of ten Sheikh Hamdan will have input on how you are going to ride a race,” explained Hills.

“To me, that’s part of the beauty of this job, riding for somebody with so much passion, knowing that every day he’s as interested as you are, whether it’s Folkestone or Royal Ascot. Travelling down to an evening meeting at Goodwood where we were running a daughter of his great mare Salsabil. The phone rang and it was Sheikh Hamdan. He said: 'Richard, I want you to treat her like she was your own daughter.’ He wanted to make sure everything was right for her.”

Despite Hills’ enormous success – he won every English Classic except the Derby and 29 Group One races in all, including four on Nayef – critics have frequently sharpened their knives, particularly when he has been trapped wide and unable to get a handy position. Many times, though, he had simply been following instructions. “He always likes you to be in the first four. Even if you want to drop one in, he’ll come to me in the paddock, put his hand on my shoulder, and say 'No further back than fourth or fifth.’ They are tactics he likes.”

Hills has three thoroughbred rides on his final day. His fourth mount, on a pure-bred Arabian, might be his best chance of a farewell winner. Then, next week, he starts in a new role with Sheikh Hamdan’s operation, though his duties remain unclear. “You just can’t stop. I expect I’ll be riding out somewhere in Newmarket next week. That’s how it is after 30 years in the game,” he said.

Godolphin parade cancelled

Godolphin’s traditional parade of their horses and riders during World Cup week has been scrapped this year owing to logistics. The stable’s key figures will instead face the media at the 'Breakfast With The Stars’ at Meydan early on Thursday.

Saeed bin Suroor trains his squad at Al Qouz, Godolphin’s long-time base, which has the encroaching city skyline as its backdrop, but Mahmoud al Zarooni prepares his team 40 miles away, at Marmoom.

“With half our runners for World Cup night in one place, and the other half in another, it wasn’t going to make any sense. But Saeed, Mahmood, Frankie [Dettori), Mickael [Barzalona] and Silvestre [de Souza] will all be at Meydan,” said Simon Crisford, Godolphin’s manager.